SAM Cost Optimization & Usage Analytics 5

Question 1

Which software licensing metric measures the percentage of purchased licenses that are actively in use?

Accepted Answer

License Utilization Rate

Answer

License Compliance Rate

Answer

Software Coverage Index

Answer

Deployment Density Ratio

Question 2

A SAM program identifies that 30 Visio Professional licenses are unused. The perpetual licenses were purchased 4 years ago. What is the BEST cost action?

Accepted Answer

Harvest the unused licenses and cancel associated maintenance/assurance renewals

Answer

Renew software assurance on all 30 licenses

Answer

Immediately purchase 30 more to have a reserve

Answer

Uninstall Visio from all machines company-wide

Question 3

What is 'shadow IT' and why does it create cost optimization challenges in SAM?

Accepted Answer

Unauthorized software or SaaS applications procured outside of IT, creating untracked license spend and compliance risk

Answer

Software installed by IT on after-hours schedules

Answer

Software running in dark data centers without monitoring

Answer

Backup software that operates silently in the background

Question 4

Which data source is MOST valuable for identifying cloud infrastructure software costs that fall outside traditional ITAM scope?

Accepted Answer

Cloud provider billing and cost management reports (e.g., AWS Cost Explorer)

Answer

Active Directory user logs

Answer

Software metering data from endpoint agents

Answer

CMDB hardware inventory records

Question 5

An enterprise is negotiating an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA). Which usage analytics data provides the strongest negotiating leverage?

Accepted Answer

Actual peak and average concurrent user counts and deployment trends over 12 months

Answer

The number of IT staff managing the software

Answer

The vendor's publicly listed price list

Answer

Total hardware assets in the organization

Question 6

What is the difference between 'cost avoidance' and 'cost savings' in the context of SAM reporting?

Accepted Answer

Cost avoidance prevents future spend (e.g., not buying unneeded licenses); cost savings reduce current spend (e.g., removing unused licenses now)

Answer

They are the same metric reported in different fiscal periods

Answer

Cost savings apply only to hardware; cost avoidance applies to software

Answer

Cost avoidance requires vendor approval; cost savings do not

Question 7

Which SAM practice ensures that software cost optimization gains are maintained over time rather than eroding after initial cleanup?

Accepted Answer

Establishing continuous monitoring, regular usage reviews, and automated de-provisioning workflows

Answer

Performing a one-time license audit every five years

Answer

Delegating all software purchasing decisions to individual departments

Answer

Freezing the software catalog and prohibiting new software purchases